The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris 



the miner's body : it must also be able to admit 

 a capture of large bulk. It is an instance 

 of admirable foresight. As the Cerceris goes 

 deeper into the earth, she casts out the rub- 

 bish: this forms the heap which I likened 

 above to a tiny mole-hill. The gallery is not 

 perpendicular, for then it would inevitably 

 become blocked up, owing either to the wind 

 or to other causes. Not far from where it 

 starts, it forms an angle ; its length is seven or 

 eight inches. At the end of the passage, 

 the industrious mother establishes the cradles 

 of her offspring. These consist of five se- 

 parate cells, independent of one another, ar- 

 ranged in a semicircle and hollowed into the 

 shape and nearly the size of an olive. Inside, 

 they are polished and firm. Each of them is 

 large enough to contain three Buprestes, 

 which form the usual allowance for each 

 larva. The mother lays an egg in the middle 

 of the three victims and then stops up the 

 gallery with earth, so that, when the vic- 

 tualling of the whole brood is finished, the 

 cells no longer communicate with the outside. 

 " Cerceris bupresticida must be a dexter- 

 ous, daring and skilful huntress. The clean- 

 liness and freshness of the Buprestes whom 

 she buries in her lair incline one to believe 

 ii 



